In Search Of A Body
by SmartGirl90210
Summary: Renee "Ren" Stiers Has A Lot Of Things Going On In Her Life. Finding A Dead Body With Her Best Friends Is Only The Highlight Of This Summer In 1959
1. Chapter 1- Treehouse

I Sat In My Room Reading One Of The Adult Books I Took From My Dad's Office. He Didn't Seemed To Care. He Only Cared About Alcohol. I Was Then Interrupted By Footsteps Coming Upstairs. I Then Put Down My Book As The Doorknob Turned. I Then Came Face To Face With A Short Dirty-Blonde Hairt, Blue-Eyed Boy. Chris Chambers, One Of My Friends.

"Hey Ren", Chris Said

"Sup Chris", I Said

"Your Dad Let Me In", Chris Explained, "He Was Seemed Angry This Time"

"He's Probably Drunk Again", I Said, "You Know My Dad Is"

"By The Way", Chris Said, "We Were Supposed To Meet At The TreeHouse"

"Oh, Shit!", I Screamed Getting Out Of My Chair, "I Forgot"

I Ran To My Closet To Get My Black Boots And Then Fixing The Buttons On My Plaid Shirt. I Quickly Slipped On My Boots And Raced Out The Door. All The While, Chris Was Laughing.

"Shut Up, Chambers", I Said Smiling And Punching Him In The Shoulder.

Chris Just Kept Laughing As We Went Out The Front Door And Onto The Sidewalk. The Way To The Old Tree House. Nearing The Tree House, I Could See My Other Friend. Teddy Duchamp. Me And Chris Climbed The Ladder And I Could Hear Teddy Laughing About Something.

"Ren And Chris Sitting In A Tree", Teddy Chanted, "K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

"We're Not Dating", Chris And I Said

"Sure", Teddy Said Rolling His Eyes

It Was True. Chris And I Are Just Friends. We've Been Through Everything Together. Like When My Mom Died Of Drugs, Chris Was The One Who Comforted Me While I Cried. This Was The Reason Why My Dad Drank.

Chris And His Parents Both Drank And His Stupid Older Brother, Ace, Picked On Us All The Time.

There Were Five Quick Knocks FolFollowed By Two Long Ones Coming From Teddy. It Was Our Secret Knock. Up Climbed, Gordie Lachance And His Magazine. He Sat Between Teddy And Me, And Started Playing The Stupid Card Game With Me.

As Me And Teddy Played, There Were A Few Knocks On The Trap Door.

"That's Not The Secret Knock", Gordie Said Looking Up From His Magazine.

"Well, I Forgot The Secret Knock", The Voice Called, "Come On Guys Let Me In!

"Vern", We All Said In Unison

We Let Vern Climb Up Through The Trap Door And He Was Clearly Out Of Breath.

"Your Not Going To Believe This", Vern Started, "This Is So Boss. Just Give Me A Minute, I Ran All The Way From, My House"

The Rest Of Us All Smirked And Looked At Each Other.

"I Ran All The Hooommme!", We Broke Out Singing

"Just To Say Im Sorry. Sorry Ooh", We Sang, "Why Can't I Say It?"

We Then Stopped On Chris's Cue And Listened To What Vern Had To Say.

"Okay, So I Was", He Started

We Them Cut Him Off With Our Absurd And Off-Key Singing.

"Forget It", Vern Said

"What Is It?", Chris Asked Him, Taking A Drag From His Cigarette

"Do You Guys Want To Go See A Dead Body?", Vern Asked


	2. Chapter 2- The Tracks

We All Stared At Vern In Disbelief. We Had No Clue What He Was Talking About, But We Were Eager To Find Out.

"So I Was Under Porch, Digging Ya Know?", Vern StartedWe All Knew

What Vern Meant Right Away. Earlier In The School Year, He Buried A Quart Jar Full Of Pennies And Had A Map So He Could Find Them Again. A Week Later, His Mom Cleaned His Room Out And Threw Away The Map. Vern Had Bee Trying To Find Those Pennies For Nine Months. Nine Months Man, He Didn't Whether To Laugh Or Cry.

"So Billy And Charlie Hogan Found The Body, While In A Boosted Dodge, And Decided To Tell No One, Not Even Ace, And Are Not Going To Do Anything About It", Vern Finished

"Man, If They Knew You Where Under The Porch They Would've Killed You", Chris Said

"The Body Was All The Way Out On Back Harlow Road", Vern Said

"Do You Think Ray Brower Could've Gotten All The Way Out There? That's Really Far", I Said

"Well Sure", Chris Replied, "He Was Out Picking Blueberries Along The Track Side, And Just Followed Them The Whole Way"

"Yeah, Yeah", Teddy Said, "Then The Train Must Come Along And, El Smacko"

Then A Light Bulb Seemed To Go Off In Chris's Mind And A Great Idea Was Formed.

"We Should Go Find Him!", He Exclaimed, "I Bet We Would Get Our Pictures In The Paper!"

"We Could Even Be On T.V!", Teddy Chimed In

"Well, What'll We Tell Our Folks?", I Asked

"Exactly What Vern Said", Gordie Said, "We Could Tell Our Folks We're Camping Out In Vern's Back Field, And Verm Could Say He's Spending The Night At Teddy's. Then We Could Say We Are All Going To The Drag Races The Next Day. We're Rock Solid Until Dinner Tomorrow Night"

"That's A Plan And A Half", Chris Said Doing The Gangs Handshake Called "Skinning It"

"But Then Our Parents Will Know The Truth And We'll Get Hided", Vern Protested

I Could Really Tell Vern Was Trying His Best To Wriggle Out Of This.

"No One's Going To Care", Teddy Said, "Because They're Going To Be So Jazzed About What We Found

"Then Billy Will Know Where I Found", Vern Said

"Well It's Going To Be Ua That Finds Him", I Said, "Not Billy And Charlie Hogan In The Boosted Car"

"Yeah", Gordie Said, "They'll Probably Pin A Medal On Ya, Vern"

"C'mon Vern", Chris Started

"Yeah C'mon Verno", I Said Starting To Give Him A Noogie

"Alright, Alright", Vern Gave In

We All Started Cheering, Gordie Not So Much.

About An Hour Later, I Left A Note On The Fridge, Telling Dad Where I Was Going To Be. He Didn't Really Care, As Long As I Had Money. I Had Also Packed My Bed Roll, And A Lihht, Brown Leather Jacket That Was My Brother's Before He Went On To Serve A Life Sentence.

I Had Begun To Walk The Street Of Castle Rock, Saying Hello To The Many, Of 1,081, People I Knew, Until I Ran Into Gordie.

"Hey", I Said

"Hey", He Replied

"You Okay? You Seem Kind Of Sad Lately", I Said

"Just, Denny", Gordie Said Thinking About His Brother

Before I Had The Chance To Say Anything Else, Chris Jumped Out Of The Back Of A Truck He Had Hitchhiked To Get To Us.

"Hey Ren", Chris Said Snaking An Rm Around My Shoulder

He Could Get Pretty Flirtatious With Me Sometimes, And I Liked It. I Mean, He Was Pretty Cute.

"Gordo, You Okay?", Chris Asked

"Yeah", Gordie Replied

"Well I Gotta Show You Guys Something", Chris Said, As He Took Off Running To The Back Of Bluepoint Diner.

"What Is It Man?", Gordie And I Kept On Asking

"This", Chris Said Pulling Out A Pistol

"Holy Shit!", I Said Smiling, "You Have These?"

"You Wanna Be The Lone Ranger, Or The Cisco Kid?", Chris Asks

"Where'd Ya Get This?", Gordie Asked Amazed

"Got It Off My Old Man's Bureau", Chris Replied, "It's A Forty-Five"

"Got Shells For It?", I Asked

"Took All That Was Left In The Box", Chris Replied, "My Old Man Will Probably Think He Used Em All Shooting At Beer Cans Or Something"

"Is It Loaded?", Gordie Asked, Making Gun Noises While Pointing The Death-Machine At A Trashcan

"Hell No, Who Do You Think I Am?", Chris Replied

BAM!

The Gun Went Off After Gordie Shot The Trashcan And We Took Off Running And Didn't Stop Until We Where Completely Out Of Earshot.


	3. Chapter 3- The Walk

We Ran Around The Corner And Slowed When We Got To The Barber Shop. Breathing Heavy, Hearts Pounding, We Started To Argue.

'"Aw Man", Chris Said, "That Was Cool"

"Damm", I Said, "That Was Really Fine"

"You Knew It Was Loaded, You Wet End", Gordie Said, "We're Going To Be In Some Deep Trouble Now That The Tupper Babe Saw Me!"

"Geez, Gordie, She Thought It Was Firecrackers", Chris Replied

"It Was Still A Mean Trick, Chris", Gordie Mumbled

I Stopped Walking And Grabbed Gordie's Arm.

"Look", I Said, "He Didn't Know It Was Loaded, Honest"

"You Swear?", Gordie Asked

"Yeah, I Swear", I Replied

"On Your Mother's Grave? Even If She Goes To Grave Cause You Lied?", Gordie Asked

"Yeah, I Swear, Alright?", I Replied Again

"Pinkie Swear?", Gordie Asked

I Crossed My Pinkie And Kissed The End Of It, Holding The Vertical To Gordie's.

"Pinkie Swear", I Confirmed With A Small Smile

We Turned And Walked About Three Steps Before We Ran Into Ace Merrill And Eyeball Chambers, Chris's Older Brother. Eyeball Had This Weird, Almost Parasite-Like Thing On The End Of His Left Eye. I'm Pretty Sure He Got It In An Accident Or Something. Maybe That's Why They Called Him "Eyeball"

Ace Merrill Was Tall, Blonde, And Mean. Just Down Right Mean. He Beats Us Up A Lot, Even Me, Which Is Saying A Lot. There Was A Time When He And My Brother Dennis Were Friends. Dennis Was Sentenced To Jail For Murdering A Woman, Giving A Reason To Beat Up Me.

"Hey Girls", Eyeball Cooed, "Where Ya Going?"

As Soon As He Said That, Ace Snatched Gordie's Beloved Yankee Cap Off His Head.

"Hey!", Gordie Yelled, "My Brother Gave Me That! Give It Back"

"And Now You're Giving It To Me", Ace Replied Calmly

"You're A Real Asshole, You Know That?", I Replied

Ace Gave Me A Hard Look Before Shoving The Cap At Eyeball, Who Placed It Gently On His Head.I Walked Back A Bit And Stood Behind Chris.

"Now, Christopher", Eyeball Said, "I Know Your Little Girlfriend Didn't Mean To Insult My Friend"

"I Know She Didn't Mean To Insult Me", Ace Said Quickly, "That's Why I'm Going To Give Her The Opportunity Of "Taking It Back".

I Shook My Head Slowly As Ace Came Up To Me, And In An Instant, I Was On The Ground, Ace's Fallen Cigarette Nearing My Cheek. I Closed My Eyes Regretting What I Just Said.

All The While, Gordie And Chris Were Screaming At Ace.

"Ace Stop You're Hurting Her!"

"C'mom Ren, Let Up!"

"Eyeball?", I Said, "You Just Gonna Stand Here And Let Him Do This To Me!"

Eyeball Ignored Me. After A Few Seconds, I Finally Gave In.

"Alright Fine, I Didn't Mean It"

Ace Lifted I Up And Chris Immediately Hugged Me Out Of Spite That I Was All Red And Breathing Really Hard. We Broke 0.9 Seconds Later And He Left His Arm Around My Waist.

"There", Ace Said With A Smile While Patting Gordie On The Neck, "Now I Feel A Whole Lot Better About This. Don't You?"

We Didn't Say Anything And I Could Tell Gordie Was Upset That His Hat Was Gone.

"Forget About It Gordie", Chris Said, Pulling Me With Him As He Turned And Continued Walking To The Train Tracks. We Walked Along In Silence.

...

"Why Do We Need A Pistol Again?", Vern Asked As We Stepped Out Onto The Train Tracks

"You May Never Know", I Said, "Someone Could Kidnap Us And One Of Us Could Shoot Him. Or Spookie's Might Be Out In The Woods"

"Yeah, We Might See A Bear", Gordie Chimed In

"Or A Garbage Can", Chris Replied Getting Laughs From The Rest Of The Gang.

"I Brought A Comb", Vern Chirped

"What Do We Need A Comb For?", I Asked, Chuckling

"So If We Get On T.V, We Want To Look Good", Vern Reasoned, ""Don't We?"

"That's A Lot Of Thinking, Vern", Gordie Said

"Thanks!", Vern's Face Lit Up Like The Fourth Of July. We Came To A Stop At The Beginning Of The Woods.

"How Far Do You Think We'll Be?", Teddy Asked

"If We Follow The Tracks All The Way, Should Be About Twenty Miles", Chris Said, "Sound About Right To You, Gordie?"

"Yeah, It Might Be Even Thirty", Gordie Replied

"Geez", Vern Whined, "Maybe We Should Just Hitchhike"

"Here We Go With The Whining Again", I Said Rolling My Eyes

"No, No", Teddy Replied Shaking His Head, "That's Baby"

"Why?", Vern Protested, "We Could Go Back To The Back Harlow Road, We'd Be There By Sundown"

"That's Baby!", Teddy Said Again

"Well, Geez It's A Long Way", Vern Mumbled

"Did Your Mother Ever Had Kids That Lived?", Teddy Asked. I Could Barely Hold In My Laughter.

"Wha-?"

"Never Mind, Vern"

We Walked Along The Train Tracks In A Curvy, Snake-Like Line: First Chris, Then Me, Gordie, Next Vern, And Finally Teddy. We Were Singing The Ballad Of Padalin, When We Decided That The Junkyard, Owned By Milo Pressman, Would Be The Best Place To Fill Up On Water. Before Even Getting Halfway To The Junkyard, My Stomach Started To Rumble, But Before I Could Say Anything, Vern Decided To Take One For The Team.

"You Know, Im Getting Hungry. Who's Got The Food?"

"Aw Man", Teddy Said, "Did Anyone Bring Anything?"

Before Any of Us Could Answer, We Broke Out Into A Verbal Fight.

"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey", Gordie Said, "Let's See How Much Money We Got"

"I Got A Dollar Two, Sixty-Eight Cents From Chris", Gordie Tallied, "Sixty Cents From Teddy, Seventy-Eight Cents From Ren, Seven Cents, Vern?"

"I Haven't Found My Pennies Yet", Vern Replied With A Shrug

"Well $5.48 Isn't That Bad", I Said, "Quidaciolou's Is At The End Of That Road. I Think We Can Get Some Stuff There"

"Train Coming", Chris Said Grabbing My Arm And Holding My Hand As We Jumped Into A Small Ditch.

I Blushed. Teddy, However, Didn't Get Off The Track. Instead, He Threw His Bedroll Down To Us And Said He Was Going To "Dodge It". We All Shouted At Teddy To Get Off. Chris And I Came To Help. We Finally Got Off The Tracks And Chris And I Ended Up In An Argument With Teddy, As Vern And Gordie Tried To Pull Us Apart.

"I Just Wanted To Dodge It", Teddy Yelled Over The Roar Of The Train

Before I Knew It, Teddy's Hand Slapped Me Across The Cheek. That Wasn't The First Time Someone Hurt Me Before. Earlier That Year, Vern Accidentally Knocked My Tooth Out. Everything Went Quiet As My Hand Flew Up To My Cheek And Tears Sprung In My Eyes While Staring At Teddy In Disbelief.


	4. Chapter 4- The Junkyard

"I-I Didn't Mean To", Teddy Stammered, "I-I Thought You Were Chris. I-"

I Turned Around Walked Away, Not Wanting To Hear Anymore Of Teddy's Crappy Excuse. I Hadn't Been Hit By Anyone Besides Ace And My Stupid Father. I Could Hear The Guys Talking Behind My Back And I Heard Footsteps Drawing Nearer. Someone Then Grabbed My Arm And I Was Whipped Around To Face Chris.

"You Have To Come Back", Chris Said, "Teddy's A Wreck"

I Kept Looking At Teddy And Started To Feel Guilty. I Walked Over To Teddy Who Was Sitting On The Tracks.

"Look, Ren", He Said, "I'm Sorry. If It Makes You Feel Any Better You Can Slap Me Back"

"I Know, I Know", I Said, "I Forgive You"

We Continued To Walk To The Junkyard. We Joked About How Right Now, The Cobras Would Probably Be Playing Mailbox Baseball, Like Baseball Except You Hit Mailboxes. We Also Jokes On How Long Billy And Charlie Hogan Would Have The Best Record For Not Being Able To Keep A Secret For 24 Hours. Chris, Had In Mind, Was Recalling Us Of The Story When We Caught Teddy From Falling Out Of A Tree, And A Dream He Had Where He Just Misses Him By A Couple Of His Hairs. We Walked About Twenty Steps Farther Before At The Gate Of The Junkyard.

"Paratroops, Over The Side!", Teddy Yelled, Throwing His Bedroll Over The Fence Before He Too, Climbed Over. I Let Go Of Chris's Hand Just In Time To Get Myself Over The Fence And Race Teddy, And Of Course, Loose Because I'm Slow As Frick. I Filled My Canteen And Watched Chris And Gordie Talk About Something, Then Race As Well. My Darling Chambers Won, And They CCame Over And Sat Between Teddy And I.

I Yawned. I Hadn't Gotten Much Sleep The Night Before, And Was Low On Energy For I Had Been Out All Day With Minimum Rest. I Laid My Head Down On The Metal Scrap Behind And Closed My Eyes. The Boys Were Talking About Something Absure I Didn't Really Want To Engage In.

I Was Awoken 6 Minutes Later To Laughing And Movement. I OpOpened My Eyes To See That The World Had Taken A Shift To Side. I Picked Up My Droopy Head Up Only To See It Had Been On Chris's Shoulder.

"Cool It Girls", Chris Said, "We'll Flip For It"

"Flip For What?", I Asked

"We're Going To See Who Has To Go To Quidaciolou's", Chris Smiled

"Oh, Okay"

Gordie Pulled Out Five Nickles And We All Flipped. We All Got Tails.

"Five Tails!", Vern Said, "Oh, Jesus, Man That's A Goocher"

"Oh Come On, Verno", I Said, "That Doesn't Mean Anything. Lets Go Again"

"No, A Goocher", Vern Said, That's Really Bad. You Remember When Those Guys Wiped Out On Wheat Hill In Durham?"

I Nodded My Head Slowly, Remembering The News Article I Read On It.

"Well, Billy Told Me They Were Flipping For Beers And Came Up With A Goocher Just Before They Got Into The Car", Vern Said, "And BANG! They All Got Totaled. I Don't Like This. Sincerely"

"C'mon Vern", I Said, "Nobody Believes That Stuff About Moona And Goochers. It's Stupid And Babyish"

"Now, Come On", Teddy Said, "Flip Again

But Vern Refused To Flip.

"You Gonna Flip Or Not?", Teddy Asked

"Yeah Vern", I Said, "We Don't Have All Day"

"Alright", Vern Said

We All Opened Our Hands To Reveal What Had Landed.

"Oh! Gordie Looses!", Teddy Said, "Gordie Just Screwed The Pooch"

"Does The Word "Retarded" Mean Anything To You?", I Shot Back But Teddy Chose To Ignore

"Gordie, Go Get The Provisions You Morphodite", Teddy Laughed

"Don't Call Me Any Of Your Mother's Pet Names", Gordie Snapped Back

"What A Wet-End You Are, Lachance", Teddy Said

"Oh...Shut Up!", Gordie Said

"I Don't Shut Up, I Grow Up", Me And The Other Boys Chanted, "And When I Look At You, I Throw Up. Blah!"

"And Then Your Mother Comes Around The Corner And She Licks It Up", Gordie Sternly Said

A Way To Degrade Your Best Friends Mother Is Always Hels In High Regard; Or Back Then It Was. As Gordie Walked Away, We Laughed And Threw Dirt And Spit Water Until We Heard It. The Sound Of A Roaring Truck Engine Coming At You At A Hundred Miles.

Gordie Had Only Left Seven Minutes Ago, According To My Watch, He Should Be Back Soon. We Packed Up Our Stuff Before Milo Or Chopper Could See Us. Just As We Jumped Back Over The Fence, As If On Cue, Gordie Came Round The Corner, Looking For Us. We Told Him To Run, So He Ranl


End file.
